I sure overbought yarn for this project! What was supposed to be one baby blanket for my new Grand Niece, turned into 3 blankets! That's insane. The shower is this weekend and I'm giving them all 3 blankets. They can give once they don't want to someone else or back to me for donation. I love a corner to corner blanket for a very fast project. I started this in the car on the way home from vacation and I finished it last night. This one is the smallest at 28" square and I think it would be a nice car blanket. After 3 blankets I can say with confidence that I really like the Knitpicks Brava Worsted yarn. It comes in 50 colors and goes on sale once or twice a year. I used Marina, Cornflower, Coral and White. On all 3 projects I used a 5.5 (I) hook. Also in the car I made a baby hat from the coral color. Baby hats are just so cute! I only had a tiny bit of coral left and that will go in a scrap blanket. The blues and white are going back in stash because I'm over this palette for now. The other thing I did yesterday was a test set up of Starlink internet. We are very rural so we don't have any kind of fiber internet options. We've been on another satellite provider for years. It's OK, but it's terrible for streaming TV. Eventually this will be mounted on the house but, for now, it's in the yard. It has some obstructions from this spot and it's still 3x as fast as our current internet. I'll also credit Starlink for creating a product with the easiest set-up ever. If I had plugged the power in properly it would have taken 30 minutes instead of 45 to set the whole thing up. The ties are on the cable so that it doesn't get accidentally mowed or cut before we can mount the device. I thought I was pretty clever with that.
So far, so good. Today I will sew! We left Acadia Friday but before we packed up we took one last hike. Our favorite is the hike closest to where we stay on Beech Mountain. It's not too long but has a little of every type of trail. It also has this beautiful view of the lake that "our" house is on. I never tire of seeing the granite steps on the trails around the park. I can't even imagine how long it took to put all of these stones in place. One thing's for sure, they don't require any ongoing maintenance! We've probably hiked this trail 4 or 5 times but it's the first time I've noticed this profile. We usually see turkeys in various places around the park but Chris commented the night before we left that he hadn't seen any this week. Then we headed to Beech Mountain for this hike.... Turkeys on the left... Turkeys in the road... Turkeys on the right! That satisfied is desire to see some turkeys! On the way up and back I got to do lots of crochet in the car. It's about 16 hours each way so I have a lot of time. I did a baby hat to go with the blankets and 2 hats for my brothers step-grands. These are in their school colors. I have 2 more to make for the other 2 kids and I ordered the yarn while I was in the car. I still need to stitch these together to finish them off. About the drive, I really have sympathy for those of you who live around Boston. The traffic is miserable, no matter what time you are there. The only other yarn I had in the car was the leftover baby blanket yarn. I bought way too much of that yarn! I started a C2C. This is going really fast and will probably be done in a few days. It's going to be a little smaller so if I finish it I'll add it to the gift. This one might make a good car blanket. But I'll also give her the option of gifting or donating it.
I'm still going to have some yarn leftover but it will go in a scrap donation blanket. This week I have a lot of dyeing stuff to catch up on but I hope to have some time to sew on the blue quilt. I finished the second baby blanket! I expect that I have enough yarn to make another. I used the same color sequence as the first blanket. It finished 35" x 38" The pattern is the Crochet Ripple Baby Boy Blanket from Daisy Farm Crafts. It's all double crochet stitches done in sets of 3. Their patterns are really well written and there are excellent video tutorials. The color yarns are Brava Worsted from KnitPicks and the white is Lion Brand Basic Stitch. They are pretty much indistinguishable, very soft and easy to work with. They wash great too. I didn't do any sewing but I got out my brand new ruler and marked blocks for sewing. I got all of the rest of the block sets marked and ready for sewing. I'll work on them at home. Today we are going for one more hike on Beech Mountain and then heading out. Yesterday we did a 5 mile walk on a series of Carriage Trails. The nice thing about Carriage Trails is that you don't have to watch for trip hazards, you can look at the scenery. You only have to watch for the cyclists. About 90% of them are on e-bikes. The trails were Aunt Betty Pond and Eagle Lake. We saw some beautiful autumnal color. There's a section where the trail crosses back and forth over a stream over 6 bridges. It's very picturesque even though the walk is all uphill in this section. Here are a couple of other photos taken on the walk. We've had a great week and we're ready to head home. I'll check back in on Monday.
That's the phrase that defines our vacation so far! Remember that I wasn't going to post at all this week? Well, that was because we were flying to Maine and I didn't want the hassle of bringing my laptop. Well, for a couple of days before we left Chris was watching the weather and there was a tropical storm headed straight for Maine around the time of our flights on Saturday. Our flights had already been rescheduled by Delta to the worst possible scenario as the last flight from LaGuardia to Bangor that day. Late Friday we decided that we weren't interested in the chance of spending the night in LaGuardia airport and made the decision to drive. Well, that changed what I could bring so I added the laptops and sewing machine! We left about 7 pm Friday night and drove until about 1 am. We stayed overnight in Wilkes-Barre, PA and were back on the road by 7 am Saturday. We made it to Acadia about 5 hours ahead of when we would have arrived on the flight. We even were able to get full refunds on our flights and rental car. Our flight did land on time but we were glad we drove. We had a really good audiobook (another Michael Koryta) that kept us entertained. We got settled and then the storm really hit and we lost power about 10:30 that night. The house we are in has a generator so we really weren't without power at all, only internet. Wireless coverage here is terrible but we survived that small inconvenience. This neighborhood was probably worst hit from the storm. There were trees and lines down everywhere. It's also a holiday neighborhood so there are very few people here and, rightly, didn't get priority treatment. We were thrilled to come back from hiking today (Monday) to find everything back on. We were grateful for the generator! I made great progress on the baby blanket Sunday. In the afternoon we decided to go to the sports bar to watch whatever football was showing. I knew that the Eagles weren't playing in this market but we were willing to watch any football. Imagine our surprise when we walked into a bar FULL of Eagles fans with the Eagles game on 5 TVs! They put the Vikings/Chiefs on 1 TV but everything else was all Eagles. What a treat! Since I had all the blue blocks cut out I brought that project and set to sewing this morning before we went for a hike. When I started making this quilt I thought my brother and JJ would like it so I'm determined to get it done to give to her before Christmas as a celebration of her recovery. Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. She's not totally out of the woods yet but she is doing better. Here was our view this morning before we left for our hike. I never tire of this place. Our hope here was that we would get to see fall leaves. Well, here they are after the storm! It's still a beautiful trail but there aren't a lot of leaves left on the trees. We started at the Wild Gardens to Hemlock Road, to Stratheden Trail to Kebo Mountain and back down Hemlocks Trail and Road. It was about 2.5 miles with some nice climbing up Kebo. It's an easier trail. We're avoiding the advanced trails because they are all so wet. I'm too old to be slipping down granite rocks. There were a few beautiful maples along the way. It's cool to see how different the trails seem with some of the leaves gone. Usually they are quite dark and shaded but now some light streams through. It's really beautiful.
The park is absolutely packed this weekend so we didn't do the Park Loop road as planned. The backup at the entrance was the worst we've ever seen. We expect that many people probably went home today after the long weekend so we hope for a little less traffic tomorrow. No more storms are expected! Yesterday was a long dyeing day so I didn't get into the sewing room at all. I finished dyeing right before dinner and, after that, only had the energy to sit and listen to the latest Lisa Jewell book and crochet some on the baby blanket. This pattern goes really quickly because it's all double crochet and the stitches are in groups of 3. Three together, three DC in 3 sts, three DC in on stitch. Nice and mindless so I could keep my focus on the book. I was so hooked that I had to stay up to finish it.
Today I start making blocks for the Paula sample quilt. I'll share black and white photos as I go along. Almost everything I crochet is donated to charity but not this one! This one is for my nephew's daughter who will arrive in November. The parents, James and Ashley picked the colors and pattern so.hopefully, they will love it. When I got the yarn I made a swatch and washed it a few times to see how this yarn would perform and, I can say that it's going to be a really soft blanket and should hold up well to multiple washings. The blanket finished to 34" x 47" so it might be a little too big but it will be big enough for the baby and the dog to share on the floor. The details: Pattern: Even Squares Blanket from Daisy Farm Crafts except that I used half double crochet instead of the pattern stitches. I did the pattern in 4 row sets. Yarn : Brava Worsted from Knitpicks in White, Marina, Cornflower and Seashell. It was the first time using this yarn and I liked it a lot. Hook: I, 5.5mm Daisy Farm Crafts is known for their gingham and other patterns that carry two colors along on one row. You can see the blue in the white section and the white in the blue. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite an easy technique. I didn't really know what I was doing when I ordered the yarn and I seem to have some leftovers! I only used about half a ball of each color.
When we were discussing patterns, Ashley mentioned that she likes the traditional chevron pattern too so I might make a striped chevron a little smaller than this blanket. Then I can make a donation blanket with whatever is left. First I have some news! When I get back from vacation, Mom and I will be organizing her move. She's done a ton already but we will still have to get her internet set up and take care of any other details in prep for the move on the 7th. I've decided not to stress about the blog or shop that week and, instead, will have a week of giveaways! I've got all the packages lined up and ready to go so get yourself ready for 6 days of giveaways coming soon! Back in Maine, I've yet to turn on the sewing machine but I did add 8 more rows to the baby blanket. 8 rows in an evening seems to be about my best rate and it will be done in plenty of time for the shower in October. Yesterday we had a pretty warm day with a mix of clouds and sun. I took a day off from hiking so Anne and I got out on the lake to do some kayaking. It was a little breezy but in certain areas there weren't many waves. We headed into one of my favorite areas of the lake where it outflows toward Somes Sound. There's a series of fish ladders from Somes Sound and into Long Pond. One of those ladder systems is here. This part of the lake is full of Water Lilies. This was the first time that I've ever seen this plant in bloom in Long Pond. I'm sure it's been there before but I've never noticed or seen it. I did some searching and found out that it's called Pickerel Weed.
If the forecast holds, today is supposed to be beautiful. We're going to take a short hike this morning to test out my toe issue and, after I get my car fixed, we hope to spend the afternoon floating in the lake. We left Greenville, ME Friday morning with this view and it rained the whole 3 hour drive to Mount Desert Island. We spent the afternoon in Bar Harbor while we waited for the house to be ready and we arrived to this view. Let's be honest, it's still a pretty spectacular view even on a gloomy day! the day wasn't a loss because we had lobster for dinner. We woke yesterday morning to this view. Now we're talking! Everyone's mood lightened instantly and we quickly planned and set out on our first hike. We usually do a "warm up" hike and this time was no different. We started in Thuya Gardens and hiked through to reach a carriage trail that went around and over the Amphitheater trail. It was about 6 miles but almost all on smooth surfaces. It was just what we needed. Here are a few photos from the day. Thuya Gardens is not officially part of Acadia National Park but is adjacent and connected through trails. If you are ever visiting Acadia try to visit Atiscou and Thuya Gardens. It's a beautifully maintained property with lovely gardens. The trail we took has some pretty mossy areas and you can get a glimpse, on the left, of how well manicured the trail is. There are miles and miles of carriage trails in Acadia. They were developed in the late 1800's by the barons of industry (Rockefellers, Fords, Vanderbilts, Morgans, etc). This is where they chose to summer and the developed these carriage trails so they could travel to the tops of the mountains and enjoy the beautiful views. Now they are used by hikers, cyclists, runners and horse drawn carriages. Most are many miles long so they are good for a long, relatively easy, walk. They aren't flat so there's a lot of up and down hiking to keep the blood flowing. I love that they are mostly all lined with granite blocks. Besides timber, cod and lobster, granite mining was a major industry here. Even the park bridges are made from granite. This is a small one. This is one of the large ones, the Amphitheater Bridge. We hiked under this bridge on the Amphitheater Trail last year and it was one of our favorite hikes. Yesterday afternoon we started getting more settled in and I got my sewing corner set up. I love the view from my sewing room at home but it pales compared to this one. Before we left Greenville I got close to 60 more block corners sewn along with the offcut mini HSTs. I'm ready to start sewing these into blocks. I have about 80 blocks cut out and once they are sewn I'll need to do some math and see how many more I need. I'm out of light fabric so I might go shop for some light blue batiks to finish off the blocks. I don't think anyone would notice batiks mixed in as long as they are mottled and not printed. On the crochet front, I finished these two hats for donation. I had a skein of this dark green yarn that I wanted to use up and a pattern I wanted to try out. It's the Crochet Baby James Beanie and it comes is all sizes. I like working a hat in this way and will use this pattern again. Laura finished the second veterans quilt top Thursday night before we left Greenville. She's now moved on to knitting. This is a sweater project that she started in May, the last time she visited the US and it will be her US project until she finishes. She wanted to cover a mistake for the photo.
That's about all from here. I'm hoping for kayaking weather today. It was way to breezy for that yesterday. I have a toe injury (long story about me being a klutz) that I keep reigniting so I will take today off from hiking or even walking much. Plus my friend, Anne, has arrived and we'll plan something that she wants to do. The boys will get to take one of their hard hikes today. I won't go on hikes with cliffs or rungs to climb. Yesterday brought us better weather than we expected but we still didn't' feel that the trails were dry enough. We are planning to get out on one of our favorite trails today if the good weather holds. I did get the next batch of 40 blocks done for my blue quilt so I have a total of 99 out of 256 done and the pile of tiny HSTs is really growing. Laura is almost done with her second veterans quilt top. We might have to go to the quilt shop today and get fabric for another kit for her. We've picked a simple pattern and the local shop has some nice woodsy themed fabrics that would work well. Today's crochet was the baby quilt and I got about 6 more rows done, finishing off a row of dark blue squares. If I crochet today it will be on the sweater. I like to alternate the projects. The weather was much better than forecast yesterday. Weather forecasts here are really just a total waste of time. I did a pretty hard workout this morning so I was not interested in the 8 mile walk that Ian and Laura took into town. Chris and I drove in to pick them up and make a trip for groceries. While we were having dinner I looked out and realized that last night was our first real sunset since the night we arrived. I rushed down to the pond to capture it. After sunset I convinced Chris that we needed a fire. After all, we had bought all the makings for s'mores and this was our first opportunity to use them. It was a lovely calm evening for a fire. Isn't the moose cut-out on the fire ring cute?
Here's hoping for a nice hike today! Yesterday was kind of perfect. It had a morning of recreation and and afternoon of reading and crafts. I'll start with the afternoon activities. I didn't finish any more blocks for the blue quilt but I chain pieced parts for about 40 more blocks. We are expecting bad weather today so I might get this set done today. Laura started the second veterans quilt kit that I brought for her. I think I'm going to have to go to the local fabric store tomorrow and get more fabric for her. She's got another week and a half here and is about out of sewing projects! While she was sewing, I added two more rounds to my hexie cardigan and finished listening to Yellowface. I will have a lot to say about that book in my book review at the end of the month. I did not particularly enjoy it and got a totally different message out of it than what I've read in other reviews. I also finished reading this book and I don't recommend it either unless you are a scientist or mathematician or just want to make your brain hurt. It was a difficult read. I'm digging into a new Michael Koryta mystery tomorrow for something easier. The one thing that you cannot rely upon here is the weather report. The day rarely turns out to be what's predicted and today was no exception. We did get clouds and a little rain in the afternoon/evening but the morning started out beautiful. Laura and I got in a 4 mile walk and then Chris and I headed out on the kayaks and it was absolutely beautiful on the pond today. This pond has yellow water lilies. We had not seen yellow ones before and I was shocked to be able to get the bloom and dragonfly in the photo together. We also saw a few loons. The photo is a little blurry because I had to zoom in so much to get the photo but I was thrilled to get a photo at all. They usually dive just as I'm about to snap the picture. They are such beautiful birds and we just love hearing their calls in the evening. I've become really fascinated with trees growing on and in rocks. These trees seem to be perched on top of the rocks and have created their own dirt mound within the roots.
The tide has started to turn on the gaming. Ian and I had a puzzle race which I won by 5 minutes, then I finally won a Cribbage set (he's still ahead 5 sets to 1) and I beat him and Chris at Scrabble. I made two separate words off the "z". We'll see if my luck holds tonight. We do expect rain/clouds today but it could change. We'll make the best of whatever it is. |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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